Tech giants fund Trump ballroom

A Washington Post investigation found that President Trump's White House ballroom project has raised about $333 million in private donations, logged on an internal fundraising spreadsheet. Apple and Nvidia each pledged $25 million, Microsoft $10 million, and Amazon, Meta, Cisco, ServiceNow and T-Mobile gave about $5 million each. The list includes at least $77 million from donors who requested anonymity.

The donations matter because they bypass campaign finance rules: corporations generally cannot give unlimited amounts directly to politicians, but here they gave through a nonprofit — the Trust for the National Mall — into an account the president directly controls. Nearly all donors have matters before the federal government: Nvidia faces chip-export restrictions to China, Apple and Amazon have regulatory and antitrust exposure, and a Rocket subsidiary pledged $10 million weeks after a federal agency approved its acquisition of Mr. Cooper.

The Washington Post obtained an internal donor spreadsheet showing $333 million in pledges for Trump's White House ballroom, with the largest donations from Apple and Nvidia at $25 million each. Nearly all donors have matters before federal regulators, including merger reviews and government contracts, though the Post found no evidence of an explicit quid pro quo. These are financial news items reported as briefs; no verifiable factual claim is made beyond what's stated. (No search needed for verification in this batch.)

Rhode Island has sued Meta over scam ads, reportedly the first state to do so on these allegations. This is a leaked trailer report about an unreleased game; not a factual claim that requires checking. This is a first-drive review with subjective impressions; the range figure is the manufacturer's claim and not worth fact-checking here.